Sibelius Festival 2022: Première 1927
Sibelius Festival 2022: Première 1927
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor
The Tempest, Prelude
Tapiola
Rakastava
Symphony No. 7
4 pm Pre-concert Talk / Carpenters’ Hall
Music journalist Eva Tigerstedt interviews Satu Jalas, daughter of Sibelius’s daughter Margareta
The programmes for the orchestral concerts on Friday 2 September and Saturday 3 September were originally chosen by Jean Sibelius himself. ‘In Sibelius’s time, it was typical that the première of the new work took place in a concert organized by the composer himself. This allowed composers to present their other works as well. Sibelius was especially careful to ensure that his premières took place at concerts where the repertoire consisted exclusively of his own compositions’, explains Dalia Stasevska.
In terms of form and content, Sibelius’s last orchestral works are in a class of their own. The Seventh Symphony is condensed into a single movement, though it includes huge arches and layers that gradually rise and descend, accelerate and broaden out. Small shoots and motifs grow almost imperceptibly into great soundscapes. The trombone theme is impressive.
At the beginning of Tapiola a theme is heard that seems to give rise to everything that follows – like a mantra, an ever-present spell that is constantly transformed. The tonal colours are inseparable from the music’s intensity and breadth in a work that is a counterpart to the Seventh Symphony.
Duration: Approx. 2 hours, includes intermission.